Hillary Clinton’s race was over as soon as she started to discount Donald Trump’s supporters as ‘deplorable’

“Half of Trump’s supporters,” she said, you could put into a “basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”

It wasn’t just what she said, it was the way she said it. Casually rattling off insults aimed at millions of fellow citizens who wanted nothing more sinister than the chance of a good job, a decent income and opportunities for their kids.

And it wasn’t just that the crowd lapped it up: it was their smug, knowing laughter, the contemptuous chortling of an out-of-touch elite.

To understand why, we have to understand a basic fact of American life that many of those who make up Britain’s own ruling elite — judging from their horrified reaction to Trump’s victory — have failed to grasp.

Things have been incredibly tough for many working Americans, for many years. Not just since the financial crash, but way before. Recent income statistics show that half of all Americans earn less today than in 1999.

America needed a revolution in the face of elite politicians' inability to address legitimate concerns

Just think about that for a second — fifty per cent of the country earning less than nearly two decades ago. They’ve had eight years of President George W Bush, eight years of Barack Obama, and still their incomes are lower than at the start.

And no wonder they were prepared to overlook Donald Trump’s personal flaws and chequered history in order to give a massive middle finger to the political, media and business establishment. One that made itself richer while they, working Americans, literally got poorer.

When incomes are decreasing while change is supposedly happening, people feel angry that they're not included, for good reason

To dismiss all that as racism, sexism and all the other -isms that the politically correct establishment threw at Trump and his supporters — just as similar insults were hurled at Brexit supporters here — is nothing more than a cynical attempt to evade responsibility for the failure of the ruling elite’s policies.

For many years, we’ve been living in a world run by bankers, bureaucrats and accountants who have pushed a technocratic agenda of globalisation, centralisation and unlimited immigration that has improved life for poor countries, and for rich people in rich countries, but which has undermined the economic security and social stability of working people in the West.

The effect has probably been starker in America than anywhere else. But it was almost totally missed by the establishment.

They failed to see policies that they viewed as being “cosmopolitan” and “progressive” were actually causing real hardship in parts of the country they rarely, if ever, visited.

Bureaucrats' agenda of centralisation and unlimited immigration has massively damaged voter trust - and it's shocking the centre left didn't realise this

Instead of understanding, empathising and trying to do something about it, politicians and, vitally, most of the American media simply dismissed any opposition as prejudice.

That’s why so many Trump supporters ended up quietly resolving to vote for the insurgent candidate they saw as their champion, but refusing to tell friends, colleagues — or pollsters! — they were in his camp. Who needs the abuse?

Hillary Clinton was the worst possible candidate for Americans who were demanding drastic change in the system

At a time when people were demanding radical change, Hillary Clinton was the worst possible candidate — the ultimate symbol of a system so many people of all political views have come to despise.

As if to rub salt in the wound, secret video footage filmed during the campaign revealed her allies had actually hired thugs to provoke fights and physical confrontations at Donald Trump’s rallies, so they could falsely accuse the Republican candidate of inciting violence.

The Clinton campaign has incited violence at Trump campaigns, for which they intended to blame Trump, and proven its corruption

These were the ingredients of Trump’s stunning upset, coming together in a powerful movement to overthrow America’s corrupt and decadent ruling class. Time after time, the political and media establishment got Trump wrong.

They said he had no policies, even though he made a series of speeches setting out detailed plans on everything from education reform to reviving America’s troubled inner cities.

Most importantly, he set out a simple but powerful pro-growth and pro-jobs economic plan.

That resonated far better with voters than Clinton’s endless wonky attempts to curry favour with particular interest groups by promising more government intervention on their behalf.

They said Trump was a threat to the constitution as he was “authoritarian” and a “demagogue”. But in fact he was more conscious than most presidential candidates of the proper limits of the office he sought.

In America, laws are made by Congress, not the President, and so when candidates list all the things they plan to do, they are just items on a wish list to be negotiated. Throughout the campaign, Trump acknowledged that reality, making his negotiating skills a selling point.

Trump made his negotiating skills with Congress, the Senate, and foreign powers a huge campaign point in his bid for the presidency - and shows a unique understanding of his position

Hillary Clinton delivers her post-defeat speech to America after surprise loss to Trump

On January 20 next year, Donald Trump will take office as the first US president who has never served in any elected office or the military. He has an awesome set of responsibilities.

To bring the country together after an extremely divisive campaign. To get the economy moving. To make America once again a strong defender of freedom.

But above all, he needs to deliver a dramatic and lasting shake-up of the entire political system. That’s what America voted for, and no-one should underestimate the historic importance of this moment.

Steve Hilton is CEO of Crowdpac, a political crowdfunding and data site, and former advisor to David Cameron.